It was 8 in the morning and Hermione had finally finished reading and making notes. She showered and then made breakfast for everyone. After that she went into everyone's room and cast sobering and anti hangover charm's. She then woke everyone up and told them to meet her downstairs. After a lot of grumbling and moaning they all made their way down to the kitchen table, where they abruptly stopped moaning when they saw breakfast in front of them. They all ate hungrily then went to shower. Hermione waited impatiently for them in the living room and by 10am they were all finally sitting down and waiting to hear her out.
"Well," she said briskly "I'm glad you're all finally ready to hear me out."
"Relax Hermione," said Ron "It's not like we have to go anywhere right? What's so important that we couldn't have a lie in on a Saturday morning?" Hermione stared at Ron with an eyebrow raised until he mumbled an apology of sorts, though the words 'just want to sleep in' could be heard by everyone and Luna giggled rather girlishly.
"Last night Luna mentioned something that caught my interest. She said that she had been told she was a direct descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw. I know we all thought it was pretty funny because we were drunk…" said Hermione but Luna interrupted her.
"I didn't think it was funny," she said. Hermione tried to back track but it was already a 'foot in mouth' moment.
"Uh, anyway," she continued quickly "I decided to check up on it. Not that I didn't believe you Luna but I was kind of wondering why Harry felt that he had to have you with us. Susan too for that matter. No offence Susan but we have never been, erm, close friends so it was kind of strange when Harry suddenly asked you to come and stay with us."
"No offence taken," said Susan brightly "People do hang out in different circles after all. I've been wondering why I agreed to come and stay with you all too. Not that it hasn't been fun getting to know you all of course, but it was weird when I found myself saying that I'd leave Hogwarts to come and stay here!"
"I think it's lovely that we're all friends," said Luna quietly "It's nice to have friends and not be made fun of all the time." Everyone was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say.
"Yes well," said Hermione "I looked into your family background too Susan. What I learnt explains quite a lot" Harry noticed Hermione's face beginning to flush with excitement at what she had managed to find out, and wondered why he had never thought it cute before.
"I started with the history of the four founders of Hogwart's and traced their family blood lines to the present age, it took me all night because of all the different books I had to look through and…" said Hermione excitedly and Ron decided to hurry her up before she started talking about books.
"Can we get to the point?" he said, "I'm just not interested in the different kind of books you had to look through…"
"Fine," said Hermione tersely "Luna is the heir of Ravenclaw. Susan is the heir of Hufflepuff and Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin."
"Bloody hell," Ron said staring at Luna and Susan "We knew that Snake face was the heir of Slytherin, but you two are heir's too? Bloody hell…all we need now is the heir of Gryffindor and it'll be like history repeating itself!" Hermione turned around and stared at Harry, and pretty soon they all were. Harry burst out laughing.
"You've got it wrong Hermione," he said after his laughter had subsided "There's no way I can be the heir of Gryffindor."
"It's true Harry," she said "I looked at Godric's whole family line and I found your great great great Grandfather there. I looked in another book and found the histories of the whole Potter family leading directly to Godric Gryffindor's bloodline. Did you ever stop to think why your parents lived in a place called 'Godric's hollow'? Not to mention what happened during our second year at school."
"What do you mean?" asked Harry rather tensely
"You used Godric Gryffindor's sword to kill the Basilisk." Hermione said simply.
"Yeah I did, but Dumbledore said that any true Gryffindor could use the sword." Harry reminded her.
"According to this book I read last night only the true heir's of houses can use the items that belonged to the founder's. You Harry, you could use that sword because you are the heir of Gryffindor. I bet Luna can use the tiara because she is the heir of Ravenclaw and I bet Susan will be able to use the magic in Hufflepuff's cup somehow because she is the heir of Hufflepuff."
"Bloody hell," said Ron again and stared at all three of them in awe.
"So," asked Susan "Do you think that's why we're all here? Like history repeating itself or something?"
"Yes," said Hermione "The three founder's of Hogwart's had a feud with Salazar Slytherin because of his, uh, principals. It was their combined power that stopped him from acting like a total mad man and taking over the school. Now you three have to stop the heir of Slytherin from being a mad man and trying to take over the whole world. You three have to stop the murders and torture, you three are going to right the wrong that he has done."
"Bloody hell," said Ron again, but a lot quieter this time. They all sat there in silence for a while thinking about what Hermione had said.
"I always thought it was strange that my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother and so on were all in Hufflepuff. I knew that I was a true Hufflepuff but I never thought it would be anything as exciting as this!" said Susan, with a flush of excitement on her face.
"So you believe me now that you have proof in a book Hermione?" asked Luna. Hermione went rather red in the face and went and sat next to Luna.
"I'm sorry Luna," she said quietly. "We just believe in very different things so sometimes it's hard for me to believe in things like that so, erm, easily. But I'll try a lot harder. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."
"It's ok," said Luna, her wide eyes brimming with tears.
"Friends?" asked Hermione. For an answer Luna threw her arms around Hermione and hugged her a little longer than what Hermione was used to. From that moment onwards they were friends, though sometimes Hermione had to bite her tongue when Luna would read her articles in the 'Quibbler'.
Harry's mind was in turmoil. He was trying to think of every possible argument against him being the heir of Gryffindor, but the only one he could really come up with was that he didn't feel he was important enough. 'When has Hermione ever been wrong about something like this?' he thought to himself, and didn't like the answer. He felt like he had too many good things attached to his name. All he thought of himself was a blundering seventeen year old that would be dead if it hadn't been for the help from the people he cared about every step of the way. How could he have not known this before? How could he have not had a sign? How was he supposed to believe all this? He found himself wondering why he couldn't just be a regular teenage boy. But no, he was Harry Potter, the boy who lived. He was Harry Potter, the chosen one. Now he was Harry Potter, the heir of Gryffindor…It felt like so much pressure. If he failed to kill Voldemort he wouldn't have people saying 'Oh well he was just a lad.' No, people would be outraged that the chosen one could not do it; they would be ashamed that the heir of the brave Godric Gryffindor couldn't save the world. What if he couldn't do it?
"I'm not sure about this," said Harry quietly. He stood up to leave so that he could think alone when he felt a heavy weight at his side under his jumper. He pulled it up and stared in shock. There on his side was Godric Gryffindor's sword.